For IIM candidates
Prof. A. M. Khusro, Chairman, Finance Commission, New Delhi

Besides heading the 11th Finance Commission, he is the chairman of the Aga Khan Foundation, president of the Federation of Indo-German Societies and chairman of the Institute of Economic Growth.

He has served the Planning Commission as a member and was also a consulting editor of the Financial Express and director of the Indian Express (Mumbai).

He was a member of the economic advisory council of the prime minister in the mid-eighties and had also served as the ambassador of India in Bonn.

Dr. Khusro was the vice chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University from 1974-79 and later became its chancellor. He has also served as the director of the Reserve Bank of India.

Dr. Khusro played a commendable| role as a member of the Indian delegation of UNCTAD II in 1968 and represented the prime minister of India at the Conference of Club Rome at Mexico in 1978.

He was also the chairman of the expert group on the future of the international monetary and financial system, set up by the chairperson of the Non-Aligned Movement, Indira Gandhi, in 1984

Prof. Yoginder Alagh, former Vice Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and Member, Planning Commission, New Delhi

Born on 14 February 1939, Dr. Alagh holds a doctorate in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia, USA.

From 1996 to 1998, he was Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Planning and Programme Implementation and Science and Technology and Power, Government of India, and until later Member of the Rajya Sabha. From 1992 to 1996, he was Vice-Chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Dr. Alagh served as Special Adviser to the UN Conference on Environment and Development and member of the symposium held in Hague. He was a Senior Fellow at the UNU World Institute for Development of Economics Research, a research and training centre of the UNU located in Helsinki, Finland, from 1990 to 1992. He is Chairman of the Scientific Steering Committee of UNESCO's International Social Science Programme (MOST). He was distinguished Fullbright Lecturer in the USA in 1994, Visiting Professor at the prestigious Institut d'Etudes Politiques of Paris in 1995, and is currently also President of the Indian Society of Labour Economics, Institute of Human Development.

Dr. Alagh has published extensively in India and abroad in journals, books and well-known collection of papers. He is the recipient of the VKRV Rao Award for 1981 for outstanding research in economics by the Indian Council of Social Science Research.

Mr. R. Gopalkrishnan, Executive Director, Tata Sons Limited, Mumbai

Mr. R. Gopalakrishnan is executive director of Tata Sons, chairman of Rallis India and vice-chairman of Tata Chemicals. He is a director of several Tata Group companies such as Tata Motors, Tata Power and Tata Internet Services. He also serves on the board of two non-Tata companies, ICI and Castrol India.

Mr Gopalakrishnan joined Hindustan Lever (HLL) as a management trainee in 1967. In 1987, he joined HLL's management committee as executive director of exports. In 1991, he was appointed Chairman of Unilever Arabia, based in Jeddah, to establish and manage Unilever's consumer products business in Arab countries. On his return to India in 1995, he was appointed managing director of Brooke Bond Lipton. After the company's merger with HLL, he was designated vice Chairman of Hindustan Lever. After 31 years with HLL, Mr Gopalakrishnan joined Tata Sons in August, 1998.

A graduate in physics from Calcutta University, Mr Gopalakrishnan also has a degree in engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

Mrs Ela R. Bhatt, Padmabhusan, Ramon Magsaysay Award Recipient and Eminent Social Worker, Ahmedabad.

For IIT candidates

Dr. R.A. Mashelkar, Director General, CSIR and Secretary, Government of India, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research.

Dr. R.A. Mashelkar is the Director General of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the largest chain of publicly funded industrial research and development institutions in the world, with thirty-eight laboratories and about 22,000 employees.

He is also the President of Indian National Science Academy (INSA). He is the third Indian engineer to have been elected as Fellow of Royal Society (FRS), London in the twentieth century. He was elected Foreign Fellow of US National Academy of Science (2005), being only the eighth Indian to have been elected after 1863. He was also elected Foreign Fellow of US National Academy of Engineering (2003), Fellow of Third World Academy of Engineering, U.K. (1996), and Fellow of World Academy of Art & Science, USA (2000). Twenty universities have honoured him with honorary doctorates, which include the Universities of London, Salford, Pretoria, Wisconsin, and Delhi.

The President of India honoured Dr. Mashelkar with Padmashri (1991) and with Padmabhushan (2000) two of the highest civilian honours in recognition of his contribution to nation building.

Dr. J. P. Mittal, Director - Chemistry and Isotope Group, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai

Dr J.P. Mittal is the Director, Chemistry and Isotope Group of the Bhabha Atomic Reseach Centre. He is responsible for developing BARC's chemistry lab and has also been awarded the Indian National Science Academy's Golden Jubilee Commemoration medal for chemical sciences for the year 2001, BARC sources said here on Monday.

He was also elected as fellow of the prestigious Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), Trieste, Italy, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to science and its development in the third world.

He was also selected for the celebrated Goyal Foundation Award in Chemistry for 2000. Dr. Mittal has more than 200 research publications to his credit.

Mr. S. M. Datta, former Chairman, Hindustan Lever, Mumbai

Mr. S.M. Datta, graduated with Honours in Chemistry and holds a post graduate degree in Science and Technology. He is a Chartered Engineer, Fellow, Institution of Engineers, Fellow, Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers, Member, Society of Chemical Industry (London) and Honorary Fellow of All India Management Association.

He was the Chairman of Hindustan Lever Ltd. (HLL) as well as of all Unilever Group Companies in India and Nepal from 1990 to 1996.

He joined the EID Parry's Board in April 1996 and took over as Chairman with effect from 19th January, 2004.

Dr. P. K. Iyengar, former Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, Mumbai

Dr P. K. Iyengar has been associated for over four decades with the Indian Department of Atomic Energy. Dr. Iyengar took over as Director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in 1984 and was appointed Chairman of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission in 1990.

In his long career Dr. P.K.Iyengar has been the recipient of many awards and honours, including the S. S. Bhatnagar Award and the Padma Bhushan.